Social capital and SMEs: an exploratory case study

This work aims to examine in-depth, through an exploratory case study, how SME entrepreneurs could build and maintain the collective social capital and which personal variables significantly affect this propensity to invest in social capital. Social capital represents the value embedded in the social relationships of individuals and collectives. We put forward a classification of actions that can be considered investments in social capital that the entrepreneur could promote. This classification should help us to understand how to influence social capital assets. These kinds of firms, which are distinguished by the scarcity of resources, could significantly take advantage of actual and potential resources and appropriable ones embedded in social personal relationships. The entrepreneur's role is fundamental to promoting the creation and exploitation of collective social capital, both inside and outside the firm. SMEs’ entrepreneurs could consciously choose to invest in social capital, given that a dense social capital creates value for both enterprise and society.